Tuesday, the Joint Committee on Education held a hearing where H.656/S.340, An Act Relative to Healthy Youth, was discussed again, and both support and opposition to the bill were strong.
Supporters of the Healthy Youth Act claimed the bill is “helpful for children” as it removes “harmful abstinence-only education from our classrooms,” and helps “young people understand their bodies and actively participate in their healthcare before they come to us [Planned Parenthood] in crisis.”
They could not be more wrong. This bill doesn’t empower students – it exposes them to radical ideology.
MFI’s Director of Research and Engagement, Jessica Richardson, emphasized that this bill would mandate “affirmative education” on gender identity in the classroom, which directly conflicts with biological reality and many parents’ beliefs.
This bill would also give an unelected bureaucracy, the MA Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE), the ability to require schools to teach children as young as 12:
- How to obtain an abortion without parental consent or knowledge.
- How to engage in “safe” anal sex and oral sex.
- Encouragement of alternative sexual behaviors to avoid pregnancy
The current MA sex ed law includes a provision for parents and any member of the public to view sex ed curricula used in any MA school district. This bill would remove the ability for anyone other than parents or caregivers with students enrolled in a district to examine curricula.
Alarmingly, not only do they not want the public to be able to know what curricula their tax dollars are funding, they also want to ensure no parent can opt their child out of the instruction. During the hearing, Senator Sal DiDomenico openly admitted that he wishes that the Sex-Ed opt-out provision could be removed from the bill, and that he has only seen “overwhelming support” for HYA.
We know this isn’t true.
In 2023, thousands of MA residents told DESE that they didn’t want the gender-and-sexuality-infused health framework that the HYA would mandate. And for years, parents and other concerned citizens across the Commonwealth have pushed back against this radical bill.
For the sake of our children, we must all continue to do so.
The Healthy Youth Act jeopardizes the innocence of our children– stand up for the family and contact your legislator today, urging them to oppose this unhealthy mandate.
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